PRIMUS MAM­MOTH 45L

THE Mam­moth range of Primus fridges of­fers steel cab­i­nets and lids, with rip­pled alu­minium walls and integrated evap­o­ra­tors. The in­te­rior fin­ish can be dented with the drop of a hard-ridged can, but use of the bas­ket should pre­vent this.

Sturdy spring-loaded, fold-flat han­dles also dou­ble as tie-down points. Wide dual-stage rub­ber seals with an air gap com­press against the wide, smooth cabi­net-top edge to en­sure a good qual­ity seal. And, given the pos­i­tive clamp­ing pres­sure of the dual over-cen­tre latches, it should keep the cold in.

Twin bas­kets (main fridge and dairy) make for easy load­ing and un­load­ing of food and drinks, plus there’s an in­ter­nal LED light. Sur­pris­ingly, the in­ter­nal tem­per­a­ture sen­sor is ‘open’ to the cabi­net contents. Whether mois­ture or spilt food and liq­uids can make their way in isn’t known, but it’s worth not­ing. Dual plas­tic lid straps avoid over-open­ing of the lid, and once un­clipped they let you re­move the lid al­to­gether from the dou­ble hinges.

The flush-mounted con­trol panel al­lows for easy temp set­ting, vari­able three-stage bat­tery pro­tec­tion, and ECO and MAX com­pres­sor set­tings. It is one of the eas­i­est to read given its large green-coloured dig­its. An ex­ter­nal re­place­able fuse has been fit­ted, as have 12-, 24- and 240-volt power sup­plies via the two cords.

IM­PROVE­MENTS

A STUR­DIER sys­tem to hold the lid straps in place would help. They didn’t break, but flexed a bit when pulled on. The jury is out with the small open vent in­side the fridge cabi­net that houses the temp sen­sor.